The greatest political reversal in memory

Was it really only a few weeks ago that Republicans were supposed to be in disarray over the shutdown, tearing themselves to shreds in gladiatorial combat – half-naked Tea Party slaves with rocks and sticks, pitted against charging RINOs – while Democrats watched in amusement from the slopes of Mount Olympus?

But today you had a frantic Nancy Pelosi, eyes bulging out of her head, veins popping, as she raced around the left side of the aisle whipping terrified Democrats into line, desperately trying to keep a Republican ObamaCare bill from passing with overwhelming Democrat support. The House Dem leadership is counting their blessings that they lost only 39 votes. I still don’t think the Upton bill is a good idea myself, but it’s well on its way to achieving its political objectives, tearing the Democrat Party asunder as it hurtles towards Obama’s promised veto.

There’s never been a reversal this fast in my lifetime. It only took a few weeks of contact between ObamaCare and the electorate to drive the Democrats mad with fear. The Republicans would be in an even better position if they hadn’t followed media instructions to apply thumbscrews to themselves and treat Cruz and company like outcasts. One suspects the Establishment of lacking the strength of its convictions with respect to the impending ObamaCare trainwreck – or, alternately, they’re so focused on ditching the Tea Party insurgents and brokering a profitable peace with dominant Democrat political culture that they didn’t care that much. The chance to lob “wacko bird” insults and work the GOP donor circuit to win an internal Party struggle was more important to them than the looming collapse of not just the Obama presidency, but liberalism’s central tenets.

Which is too bad, because if they’d exercised the kind of relentless narrative control Democrats excel at, the Republicans would be in an even better position today. They made themselves bleed over the shutdown “error” instead of insisting on the truth. But it’s not too late for them to begin vigorously reminding America that Ted Cruz was right – the repeal and defund crusades were a last-ditch effort to stave off the disaster currently unfolding.

And they should miss no opportunity to hammer home this crucial point, to every American in danger of losing his or her health insurance: The Democrats did this to you on purpose. They shut down the government to make sure this would happen. They voted unanimously to kill legislation that would have protected your insurance.

You can tell how desperate Democrats are because they’re trying to dredge up the shutdown again, shaking an empty bottle in the hope that a few stale drops of yesterday’s political “victory” might roll out. If the Republicans handle this properly, Democrats will soon be scared to death to bring up the shutdown ever again. The people who got “defeated” during that battle are the people losing their insurance plans today.